Our friends over at Kitsilano’s Zulu Records once again present their weekly Scout feature, the Zulu Report. Within, staff from the West 4th music store provide The Track, the song that is on heavy rotation that week; The Playlist, which is pretty self-explanatory; The Gig, the must see show of the week; and The Glance, a view ahead to music on the horizon. From their ears to yours, enjoy…

THE TRACK

GIRLS My Ma

Last year San Francisco’s Girls really set the bar high with their sophomore release Father, Son, Holy Ghost. It vaulted the band and its enigmatic leader Christopher Owens into a new realm of both respect and scrutiny. Owens offered up some of the most candid and outspoken interviews of 2011, elaborating in great detail about his upbringing as a member of Children of God cult, his heroin addiction, and his complicated relationship with his mother – any curious readers can easily find all the gory details online elsewhere. This track was always one of our favourites off of their Pitchfork 9.3 out of 10 approved outing, as it has everything that makes pop music so dramatic and absorbing – intricate instrumentation, sweet licks, clever melodies and a certain amount of attitude. My Ma is the third single from the record and one of the more straight ahead forlorn numbers. This video captures the feel of the song and the vintage lens vibe only adds a sense of isolation, despair, time-passing, and general anguish. It really speaks to the aging Laurel Canyon hippy in a poncho dream…

The Playlist

WOMEN Eyesore

We were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Women guitarist extraordinaire Chris Reimer. His textural guitar work lives on through his amazing solo recordings, as well as those of Women, and as a touring member of The Dodos and Neko Case’s band. Our thoughts go to his family, the great folks at Flemish Eye and his fellow band mates who with their occasional visits to the store have made for some very memorable times.

ISLANDS Hallways

Before the Islands were the Unicorns. Loved them then and love them now! Singing with a band of skeletons is hard to do (not everybody can flesh out a song). Our man Nick Diamonds though is skilled in this department as this catchy number has plenty of jump!

BEIRUT Vagabond

In this clip, hipsters dressed as servicemen and sailors drink beer and hang with ladies dressed as nurses. There is a shore-leave romanticism to the nice black and white series of shots. Zach Condon – the sonic demon who casts the biggest spell in Beirut – looks sad, detached and forlorn and the music really embodies his spirit. This is the first video in a long time that I have seen someone smoke three cigarettes at once in.

GONJASUFI The Blame

Man, this guy just keeps getting better and better! As both Gonjasufi and Flying Lotus we have been loving everything that Warp gives from one of the coolest players in the L.A. scene! Speaking of that town – as this video proves it is an architectural marvel – not over the top but seriously laid back with an omnipresent sunkissed baked on feel.

BON IVER at Air Studios

This is a long 24 mintue clip of Justin and his main pal Sean Carey in a studio jamming out the sensitive moments of his epic Grammy nominated release! Just two guys, a couple grand pianos, some sweet Neumann tube mics and a bunch of reverb – a very intimate affair!

THE BARR BROTHERS Beggar in The Morning

Not even the might Arcade Fire can claim that they played the David Letterman show before their debut record was released! Introduce yourself to this sensational new band from Montreal that have in an extremely short time generated rave reviews and caught the ear of Paul Shaffer and co.

NINA SIMONE How It Feels to Be Free

We are introducing a new feel to the playlist – each week we plan to spotlight an artist from the past that is getting heavy airtime in the store! Johnny told me this week that he’s been rocking the Nina lately, and that her unmistakable immediacy has really set the tone for him! Oh Johhny.

FISH & BIRD Both Sides, Now

Here’s something super cool to round this week out – our good friends Fish & Bird are down by the river jamming a classic Joni tune! Be sure to request this when they perform at our instore Friday March 16th!

GOYTE Easy Way Out

Keeping Goyte in stock is harder than keeping the Basil Hayden Bourbon at Bitter out of Johnny’s glass. Yum. This latest delicious Goyte track scores very high on an indie rock video algorithm we have in the beta phase – its all there: animation, 360 Degree Motion, efx, nudity and more!

THE GIG

VETIVER – ELECTRIC OWL Thursday March 15th

Vetiver main man Andy Cabic is deeply associated with the freak-folk movement of a few years back, as well as for his work as the sideman to Johanna Newsome, Vashti Bunyan and Devendra Banhart. While that resume is impressive alone, we at Zulu have always admired his own solo recordings as Vetiver and greatly enjoyed his touring journeys up the west coast from San Francisco! Recently Andy has moved away from the stripped down acoustic guitar sound and actually has phased out much of the straight up folkiness of his arrangements – opting for a more driving sound that is closer to vintage Feelies, Felt or early paisley underground twang. Things can’t stay the same especially with you are burdened with the amount of talent Cabic and his revolving band of misfits has. This recent video captures one of the more upbeat numbers off of his 2011 Sub Pop release The Errant Charm, and kind of hints at the immediacy in Vetiver’s latest grab bag of songs. You would be wise to snatch up a ticket for this event at the Electric Owl as Cabic and co. are using these low-key ‘Califonia to Vancouver and back’ dates to prep for a larger tour to support his latest masterpiece – a soundtrack to Sundance Film Festival indie-hit Smashed!

The Glance

Tue Mar 06 NNEKA – BILTMORE
Tue Mar 06 SLOW CLUB – MEDIA
Wed Mar 07 A CLASSIC EDUCATION / GANGLIANS – WALDORF
Wed Mar 07 CLOUD NOTHINGS – MEDIA CLUB
Thu Mar 08 BEN GOULD – CAPRICE
Thu Mar 08 DJ IAN CAREY – REPUBLIC
Thu Mar 08 ISLANDS – RIO
Fri Mar 09 WORLD OF DRUM + BASS – 560
Fri Mar 09 THE BAD PLUS – RIO
Fri Mar 09 SOL + GRYNCH OF ELEKWEN + FOLK – ELECTRIC OWL
Fri Mar 09 GIRAFFE AFTERMATH + BRAVE NEW WAVES – SHARK CLUB
Fri Mar 09 LAZER SWORD – WALDORF
Fri Mar 09 DJ WRISPECT – REPUBLIC
Fri Mar 09 TOMMY TRASH – CELEBRITIES
Fri Mar 09 HUGH CORNWELL – VENUE
Sat Mar 10 PETUNIA & THE VIPERS – UKRANIAN HALL
Sat Mar 10 AGGROLITES – FORTUNE
Sat Mar 10 MEMORY HOUSE – WALDORF
Sat Mar 10 KENNY LARKIN – ELECTRIC OWL
Sat Mar 10 WRECKTALS + BRAVE NEW WAVES – UKRANIAN CULTURAL CENTRE
Mon Mar 12 ANDREW JACKSON JIHAD – MEDIA –
Wed Mar 14 SAUL WILLIAMS – FORTUNE
Thu Mar 15 16 BIT – FORTUNE
Thu Mar 15 SWOLLEN MEMBERS – VENUE
Thu Mar 15 VETIVER – ELECTRIC OWL
Fri Mar 16 RIVA STARR – CELEBRITIES
Fri Mar 16 FRANCIS HARRIS – W2
Fri Mar 16 MARC HOULE – 560 CLUB
Fri Mar 16 NEEDTOBREATHE – VOGUE
Sat Mar 17 A.SKILLZ – RED ROOM
Sat Mar 17 ANTI-ST.PATRICKS DAY POLKA PARTY – FORTUNE
Sat Mar 17 WILLIAM FITZSIMMONS – BILTMORE